Rayman Legends delayed until September, coming to Xbox 360 and PS3

Ubisoft has disclosed that Rayman Legends will no longer be a Wii U exclusive, and has been once again delayed to release simultaneously with its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts. Confirmed in a press release from Ubisoft, EMEA Cheif Marketing & Sales Officer Geoffroy Sardin explains the company’s thinking behind making the game multi-platform.

“We heard from many Xbox & Playstation owners and Rayman fans who told us they really wanted to play Rayman Legends on their current system. We decided to give the fans what they wanted while at the same time broadening the audience exposed to this innovative and memorable game.”

Wii U version developer Ubisoft Montpellier is also in charge of making the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. IGN contacted Xavier Poix at this year’s D.I.C.E. summit to discuss the decision to go multi-platform.

“When we saw all the comments when we announced the game would be focused on Wii U, all of the people that have both the PlayStation 3 and 360 were really disappointed. So we thought it was making more sense to also bring the game to where it was originally from. That means Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. So we decided to go for a multiplatform launch simultaneously.”

“It’s a different kind of experience if you have the Wii U,” Poix said. “Obviously there will be cooperation on the PS3 and 360, but on the Wii U there is still this magic of having one player that can play on one system with a new experience and the other on the usual game pad. That stays a Wii U exclusive for sure, by definition.”

“If they loved the Origins experience, it’s close to the same kind of feeling but with a level of immersion and brand new settings that haven’t been seen before. We have other features that I can’t disclose right now, but it’s really a brand new game. Even in terms of visuals, we built our own engine in terms of lighting, in terms of having 3D elements so you can have dragons that fly from far to go in your face and back. It’s a unique kind of 2D platforming experience.”

“It’s really about the fans. It’s really about having a very interesting universe, a mix of craziness and poetry mixed all together. We are very happy that we can bring that to many, many Rayman fans and the more we can, the better.”

It was also confirmed that Rich George’s tweet from yesterday was referring to this announcement.

Yes this is the news. It’s pretty significant. Not my problem you guys assume things, come on. Be realistic.

With the game no longer being a Wii U exclusive, it’s difficult to determine what the future holds for Nintendo’s platform. Rayman Legends was the Wii U’s only significant release this month. While we do have some titles to look forward to this quarter unique to the Wii U (LEGO City: Undercover, Game & Wario, etc.), Rayman Legends was to be a prominent exclusive release. The game will be going multi-platform regardless of any GamePad-dependent features, however, Ubisoft hasn’t disclosed any details on how they will handle the transition. Will the loss of this exclusivity affect the integrity of third party support on Wii U?NoChannelImagesOur Verdict